I am what i was, and so I will be..

What is it that makes man want to label everything? Like that oft repeated cliche says, would a rose not smell as sweet were it called by a different name? Why then must we first stick a label on everything we find around us, and then go on to defend that label as if it preceded the thing it represents? Did the name come before the object it stands for? Did the belief come before the person believing it? The best argument against this wholly man made concept of beliefs and culture is that there are so many different cultures. What works for one man may not for another, and so came about all these varied ways of looking at the same world around us. As soon as we are out of the womb, the people around us we so fondly call our family starts labelling us, with the label changing according to the prevailing beliefs. So an infant sucking on his thumb, and living on his mother's breast milk has already his name, his religion, his eating habits, his sensitivities and right down to the style of underwear he wears chosen for him before he has uttered his first comprehensible sentence in that prechosen mother tongue of his. In some cultures, if this infant turns out to be a 'she' rather than a 'he', then she faces discrimination for no fault of hers. She is labelled a 'burden', and her burdened caretakers are already hatching plots to get rid of her.

Even man's defense of his culture, his pride in its veracity and supremacy over that of his neighbours fails to stand upto scrutiny. Some people tout their culture as being supreme or marvellous because it is so old or is so steepled in history. Considering the fact that every culture, language, tradition, belief, custom etc etc were all brand spanking new at one time or the other, that every iota of history that we have proof of today was at one time non-existent, when people decry modern influences for corrupting their cultures, one feels compelled to ask these protesters: Were these cultures also not evolved from the ones preceding them? Then why does nooone bemoan the loss of those ancient belief systems that preceded the ones we have today? This makes for a very interesting observation, that culture is not and cannot be defined by those who came before us, but one may see where our culture is headed by looking at those who lead us into tomorrow.

All this stems from that eternal search for one's soul, one's identity. I personally find this to be quite the wild goose chase, because i truly believe that there is no such thing as a blueprint for humanity. Each of us sets out from a different lane of the race track, each endowed with different abilities, dreams, fears and so on. The fact lies unstated that though we all seem to be running towards the same destination, the journeys we all take to reach there are so different that trying to find parallels is an exercise in vain. Hence the point of a common identity, and thereby a reason to bond with our neighbour is quite fruitless. In this journey though each of us goes through so many of the same experiences, each is influenced so uniquely that we all end up as different as snowflakes; they look the same from a distance, but when you look closer, each one a marvel in itself. We must stop looking at ourselves as fixed entities, like mud pots, that have been cast in a certain way and are to remain so for eternity, and see ourselves more like wet clay, that can and is continously moulded according to the prevailing forces in the world around us. Those people who lament the loss of byzantine, magnificient cultures must wake up to this reality, that the only thing constant in life is change, and that embracing this simple but revealing truth could help us achieve mental peace.

Why am I here? What am I here to do?

If there is one question that has plagued man ever since he developed a consciousness, it is this
one: Why am I here? Entire lives have been spent in either the search for the answer to this
dilemma or even worse, trying to push one's answer onto others as the right one. Some people even say that we are all here for a divine purpose, that every person's life is an arrow with a head that points in some direction, and only by accepting fate, destiny and a higher power, we can truly discover the purpose of our existence. To every one of these people I say, "Shut Up!!"

George Carlin, a great comedian and an even better thinker in my opinion, once said that we are all here because the earth needed plastic! Earth didn't have the time to make it herself, wanted to delegate it to someone, and so she created us humans. Thus the purpose of our existence is to make plastic for earth! Laughable though it may sound, it is a revealing insight into the stupidity and enormous lack of humility on our part that we think that all the billions of galaxies filled with gazillions of stars in our universe and all the fantastic and unbelievably diverse variety of creatures on planet earth were created just to give us a beautiful starry sky and a nice place to live in! That's exactly what most religions make out our world to be, a place created by Mr God so that we could appreciate his supreme benevolence for such a wonderful gift and remain ever thankful to him, spending our lives in eternal gratitude.

I have a very simple answer for the quest for the purpose of our existence: There is no such purpose! Our lives are what we make them to be, our destiny lies in our own hands. Why is this such a difficult thing for people to accept? Then are we like boats with sails but no compass you ask me? Yes, its true that our lives by themselves have no purpose, but it is in our hands to give our lives a purpose. YOU, yes you, are the rudder of your ship! You decide what you want to do with your life. Since every action we take affects people around us in a myriad of ways, some of which we know about and comprehend and some of which we don't, it is truly upto YOU what you want to do with your life.

If you decide that you want to help people through your life, and take part in social service, then that could be the purpose of your life. If just being a good human being and a good son or daughter, a good wife/husband or a good employee is what you are willing to do, then that could also be the purpose of your life. One doesn't have to make a huge difference to the world around them. If you could touch even one person's life, give him/her one better day of their lives through your actions (or lack of them, in some cases), then yours was definitely a life worth living. Life isnt worse for the lack of a purpose, its actually better because then we all are truly our own masters, the captains of ships that only we know the destinations of. Like Mother Teresa once said, "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.".

Rules to live by!

Saw this on a website and just had to post it! Dogs are not just man's best friends but also great guides on how to live one's life! Enjoy :)

Dog Philosophy:

1. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.
2. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
3. When loved ones come home, always run and greet them.
4. When it's in your best interest, always practice obedience.
5. Let others know when they've invaded your territory.
6.Take naps and always stretch before rising.
7. Run, romp and play daily.
8. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.
9. Be loyal.
10. Never pretend to be something you're not.
11. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
12. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.
13. Delight in the simple joys of a long walk.
14. Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
15. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
16. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
17. When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
18. No matter how often you are criticized, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout. Run right back and make friends.

A good read indeed!

Whats your favourite kind of book? Does it have to be one of those gripping, edge of the seat, un-put-downable-unless-your-in-a-life-and-death-situation kind of book for you to get interested, or are you one of those read-when-i'm-free-run-along-at-a-casual-pace type of book reader? I mean that if you had to choose between the Da Vinci Code and the Great Expectations (supposing you haven't read either), which would it be? Personally I'd go for the former because slow paced books bore me very quickly.

Of course there are those books that are on everyone's must read list and whose reputation precedes them by a mile, Lord of the Rings being a very good example of such a book. Though when I read it myself, I found it too lengthy, tiring and making me wish that the whole bunch of good doers would get a move on for god's sake! At this point all the LOTR fans would rise up in protest saying that I had no real appreciation of the beauty and majesty of this extremely famous series of books. I would like to counter by saying that I have read other mythologies like Fire and Ice and Sword of Truth, that are big reads by themselves and though they may not stand shoulder to shoulder to LOTR for intricate detail, they hold their own when compared by standards of not boring the reader to death before anything significant happens.

So what does make for a good read then? There are other genres of course like sci-fi, thrillers, mystery, biographies, autobiographies, drama, comedy etc etc. But to keep the reader in me interested, the plot has to thicken quickly or else I'm liable to start looking elsewhere. Now there are some exceptions to this rule (aren't there always?), Gone with the Wind being the best example I could think of and such books, though not exactly a thrill-a-minute, still never fail to keep the reader hooked. A book I read recently, Anything for you, ma'am by Tushar Raheja, was a perfect example of the kind of story that doesn't give u a minute's time to think, forcing you to quickly grasp the events happening with and around the protagonist, at a pace some readers could find exhausting. But frankly I thought it was a great read and a great first effort by the author, for the same exact reason.

So why do I feel such a need to be kept on tenterhooks whenever I read a book? I completely blame our new age media, that has crippled me with a monster-sized Attention Deficit Disorder by feeding me more than I could handle since the minute I was delivered into this world of ours. Our food has to be fast, our news must be latest, our sports live and our lives itself a rat race. Honestly, does anyone realize how fast paced everything now is, how that poem Leisure by William Henry Davies is more relevant now than ever? Sometimes I wish I could take a moment to stand and stare, but everyone says I must run like a hare (not trying to be poetic). Now what was that old fable about the tortoise and the hare all about once again??

Laughin' all the way

The most uncommon sense in the world, contrary to public opinion, is not common sense, but rather a sense of humor. Common sense is what is actually keeping a semblance of order in our world, but we would all be a lot happier, and a lot less peeved, were more people to have a simple sense of humor. I always prided myself on being able to see the lighter side of life, and though this does not necessarily mean I can crack a good joke, I know a rib-tickler when I see one. Being able to distinguish a good joke and then to laugh whole heartedly not only at jokes on others but also at oneself, constitutes what I consider to be a fully developed sense of humor.

Now some people might disagree with that opinion. I remember reading the following quote or a similar one at the bottom of a page in one of those diaries that has quotes at the bottom of every page (my favourite kind when I was a kid) : " A man who can laugh at himself is the best man in the room.". So throughout my life I always took jokes directed at me rather sportingly, and so made for a rather poor butt of jokes, since I would often join in in the laughter! Many people thought this to be a lack of self-esteem on my part, and that might have been true to a certain extent, but of all the delightful people I have met in my life, the ones who impressed me the most were those who could take a rib at themselves in the right spirit. Although I do think cracking jokes at one's own expense is a step too far and is better avoided.

How would the world be a happier place if people learnt to laugh more? Well, its an undisputed fact that misunderstandings cause such distress and break up so many relations that a pinch of humor always helps lighten the situation. People take themselves way too seriously, and the inability to see the lighter side of life and just take it easy ends up making us all frustrated and discontent. Also, the whole of business of jokes is made such that every joke is always at some stereotype or other. Americans are all fat and eat just burgers, Indians are all brainiacs stealing everyone else's jobs, Muslims in the middle east are all bomb strapped AK-47 wielding terrorists, Sardars, blondes etc are all really dumb, the list goes on ad nauseam. The minute one makes a joke, someone has taken offense and launched a tirade against the purported abusers who should all be hanged for their insulting comments. Take it easy mate!! Or as one would say in Indian lingo, Light le baap! Its true to a certain extent that such stereotypical humor encourages the wrong kind of ignorance and false rumor about people, but since when has man ever failed to take note of one person's behaviour and stick it to all his so called neighbours? The point is to take such humor lightly and disregard it, or if possible pay back in kind! But taking offense at it seems a tad out of line, and the root cause of unnecessary tensions.

To put a point to it, life is too short to spend it hating or insulting anyone. There are always going to be a few weird people in the world, and there are going to be even more who make it a point to make fun of these so called weirdos. But were one to take this ribbing for what it is, just man trying to amuse himself, we would have a lot less frowns in our ever-suffering world. Spread love and laughter, and Utopia though it may not be, there would at the least be a lot more smiles in the world than there are currently.

Short term Mammories!

When God sends us down to earth, naked and completely helpless, he gives us all some RAM and a lot of ROM. (the computer terms.... if u don't know what they mean... Google them!) To put it simply, this means that we can remember things that happened to us in the near past and also things from our far gone past that left an impression on us. Well thats where my problem begins... mine are faulty!! Its no shame for me to declare that I have poor memory of stuff I should remember (or at the least the stuff most people do). It surprises me when people tell me some things from my past, like their first impressions of me, or stuff i said, things that I have poor or no recollection of. There's this saying that one should remember the good things someone does for us and forget the hurts and insults. But darn it I cant remember either! I cant even hold a decent grudge against someone who's wronged me. I know, not that anyone would be scared of me holding one against them, but still I'd like to once in a while, to know what it feels like.


Well to be honest, not remembering how exactly one embarrassed oneself long long ago seems like a good thing, doesn't it? Its a lot easier to move on from painful experiences when one doesn't retain them in memory. Sadly not so. The problem is, these experiences actually live on in our subconscious long after we think we have wiped them from our memory. These experiences shape our behavior through our subconscious, influencing the choices we make and the decisions we take. They even alter our dreams, thus accounting for people having recurring nightmares long after the source of those nightmares occurred (also accounts for all my teenage crushes showing up in my dreams). So basically, my poor memory probably means all that information is getting stored in my subconscious which scares the shit out of me. God only knows how that affects me. Gulp.

A further twist to the tale is added when out of the blue, I begin to feel a sense of Deja vu in certain situations. There is this eerie feeling at the back of my mind that I have been here before and that something doesn't quite add up, even though my brain denies ever having had such an experience. Some people in such a situation would have some recollection of where and when they had a similar experience, thus quickly explaining the 'Deja vu'. Me, I just go on feeling weirder and weirder, unable to figure out why the hairs at the back of my neck are standing.

The icing on the cake is that other trait I have probably inherited, absent-mindedness. This has gotten me into so much trouble that if I ever came across a genie and he granted me a wish, I wouldn't hesitate one second in asking for the ability to freaking remember where I kept that pen I was just writing with. Presence of mind is a quality I value highly, and when people sometimes have to call my name at least two or three times, before i respond, it frankly makes me feel really shorthanded. God, in all his wisdom, for some reason thought that this would be a quality I would appreciate. Thats a laugh.

This absent mindedness also means I am not very observant of my surroundings, and miss out details that otherwise would have benefited me a lot. So the only positive I can possibly see in this irritating facet of my personality that some people seem to find it endearing. To these people I say, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Absent-mindedness as a quality is like elephants in the zoo. Everyone likes them, but no one wants to bring one home.

All in all, anyone reading probably thinks I am cribbing about silly things when I should frankly be worried about other things, like getting a life for example. Good point, and I guess I should thank God for the other awesome facets of my personality that I like (my rugged good looks, my charm... well you know me). To wrap it up, I guess we are all like unfinished works of art. Some of us go on to become masterpieces the artist can be proud of and others, well lets just say that not every grain of sand goes on to become a pearl does it?

UFOs!! (Unidentified Female Objects)

Why is it so freaking difficult to understand women? To put it very strongly, Women are the Bermuda Triangles of the human world. Nobody has a clue as to whats going on over there, but go anywhere near them to find out more and you get sucked in like a little bug caught in a basin whirlpool never to surface again. Even if you do make it out in a single piece, a shipwreck on the rocky cliffs on the coast of Womenland, could you honestly say that the experience did not change you in so many ways that you barely recognize yourself later? Great authors, philosophers, and poets have expressed their frustration in a million different ways about how utterly incomprehensible women are, about how women are the epitome of delicacy yet when angered hell runs a distant second to their fury! What was God really thinking when he made women such enigmas to men? Wait no, change that, sometimes even women dont understand why they are the way they are!

Some wise man once said that one should just love women, not try to understand them. But since curiosity is sort of man's defining characteristic, separating him from the million other creatures on this planet, asking him not to find out more about anything he does not understand is utterly futile. So many lives spent in this fruitless pursuit (this blog included) and what do we have to show for it? Our mothers, our wives, our girlfriends, our friends, our lovers, our daughters... they are everywhere in our life yet the closest we have come to understanding women is to say they definitely deserve to be treated as equals. Bull-freaking-shit! Women are not our equals. Hell, that is giving us men a lot more credit than we deserve. Now I am making this blog completely personal by saying something that I have been pondering for a long time but havent ever had the guts to say... Women are definitely and without argument, our superiors!

At this point, if you are a man reading this, you are probably thinking that I am trying to curry up some favor with women with such a statement. But the fact is, strangely there are probably going to be a lot of women who will actually take offense at my opinion, for the same exact reason. Then there are going to be others trying to figure out why I am suddenly writing such a blog in the first place by looking in my personal life. To round it off, there are going to be others secretly reveling in the truth behind my statement. But frankly, it doesnt take much to reach this conclusion.

Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult. ~Charlotte Whitton
The above quote pretty much confirms what I have been trying to say all along... We think women have it tough in this world, and that they have achieved a lot already, but honey, you aint seen nothing yet! Its only now that women are finally breaking free of all the ridiculous boundaries we drew around them, and to their own pleasant surprise, beginning to realise that they are just as good if not better at everything men do. Must women truly begin to shout from the rooftops and from mountain tops before us sexist men begin to see the truth in the matter that women do make our world a better place to live in? Just yesterday I found out that it is widely believed that in the countries where the number of women is greater than the men, the crime rates are lower. I am ready to bet my life on the fact that if all the presidents of all the countries in the world were women, the world would be a lot more peaceful place. Ok there may be an occasional bickering or two, but hey, i'd rather have a bit of that than the Third World War anyday!

P.S. A lot more women would also be a lot more pleasant on the eye now wouldnt it! ;)

To do.. or to not to do...

Life... its all about the choices aint it... To be precise, every little silly decision we take can and will go on to have impossible to foresee consequences that bite us in the buttock area. This makes for some very sticky situations and very few have the courage and the will power to stand strong behind their decisions. Every minute of our lives we are taking decisions, but sadly only some of us have the foresight and/or the experiences to be able to take the right ones. But then again, is there really anything such as a right decision? Sometimes we come across the proverbial 'Sophie's choice', when both sides of the coin appear so similar that deciding on one of the choices becomes harder than life itself.

Morals are an easy way out of some decisions. They are a terrific guide when one is choosing, one's friends for example. But suppose one has to choose between friends. Now here lies the great dilemma. How is one supposed to choose between friends, even if our morals clearly point to one over the other? Even if it were so easy, once the heart has made a bond with someone, unless some great injustice has happened to one, such choices are not easy to make. Also the foreboding of having to rue one's decision later makes it all the tougher to choose.

Most of us have been on both ends of this balance. Sometimes we made the right choices, and sometimes we didnt. The good ones left a few happy memories, but the bad ones almost always leave a bitter taste in the mouth that lingers on for years afterwards. Although in both cases, the experience is invaluable, in that it leaves us wiser and also more appreciative and sympathetic to someone else in the same curry that we once were. Some people become overly cautious and unable to ever take such decisions again, for the bad memories from the previous such experience haunts them. Very few people actually use this information to take the right decision the next time the choice comes along.

In the end, the matter of right or wrong in any choice is highly debatable. Most people do what seems right to them at that moment in their lives, because frankly, life is too short to spend too much worrying about all our decisions. This does not mean that I am calling for spontaneous ill-thought out decisions. It just means we have to let go of our apprehensions and just let our hearts lead the way sometimes.

Yeh Love Kya Cheez hain yaar!

Love.... the word itself is probably, without argument, the most abused, manipulated, and loaded with meaning word in the entire English language. Love for family, love for one's friends, love for God, love of one's profession, love for one's neighbor and so on ad nauseam are some of the myriad flavors of this feeling. Poets, authors, painters, sculptors, singers, musicians have created the greatest masterpieces of art ever inspired and driven by this indescribable feeling of complete and utter infatuation for their object of admiration. Some of the greatest achievements in the fields of science were fueled purely by the love of discovery. The love for the fine arts has manifested itself in some brilliant performances etched on the minds of the viewers fortunate enough to witness these acts of complete submission to this feeling. Can anyone ever truly describe how the lover feels when he holds his love in his arms? Can one put into words the emotion a mother feels when she sees her newly born child?

Sadly, the power of this feeling that has driven man to great heights, also makes him suspect to do things no logic can explain. Each and every human being craves this one emotion like nothing else, and the presence or lack otherwise of this element in a human's life is the single most important factor shaping his psyche. Power and riches may satisfy every other desire man feels, but nothing can replace love. The greatest single feature of love, defying all laws of physics, science and cold logic is that there is no such thing as an end to love. One can love a million people to the fullest, and still have enough left to give to a million more. Love knows no bounds, no color, no distinction at all. But the minute love is missing, everything turns awry. Without love, man is essentially a psychopath, incapable of feeling happy, despite any and every of his desires being fulfilled.

It is very easy for other human emotions to disguise themselves as love misguiding the mind and making it choose paths certain to cause misery. Greed, lust, attraction, jealousy are some of the impostors that make full use of the power they get when they cover for love. Each and every faith witnessed by mankind advocates the need to regulate these nasty creatures of the human mind and discover true love. Easier said than done, for it is rare that love can be inspired where such evil lurks. On the other hand, the only way to drive away such evil, is simply put, loving even such misguided denizens of our world.

The one last defining feature of love is, that it is such a strong feeling that a lack of response from the receiver can eat away at even the most loving person. Unrequited love, by itself, is one of the biggest causes of depression in the human world. When man has learnt to give without expecting, to love without needing to be loved back, then he will probably discover the actual purpose of life and real fulfillment. Sadly, only a select few have been able to embrace this higher echelon of the human psyche, but one cannot be blamed for being unable to do so. Caring for someone, by itself can only come naturally to someone who has been cared for at some stage in their life. Learning to be able to do so, without expecting anything in return, can be called easy only for the gods.

Well then, what is one to do? Can we ever learn to accept this truth and actively progress towards achieving such a goal? Is such a pursuit pointless? Imagine being able to love without any reciprocation, the kind of freedom one would feel. The soul, if it truly exists, would only be truly set free if we have no strings attached to the other souls around us. True happiness lies in giving, in being able to see past the desire to be loved, to give without thought for reciprocation and to hope that the receiver passes that love onto another. This chain of gratitude is the only way us humans can ever save our sad, ailing world. For only misery lies at the end of any other road, and difficult though the path may be, we must not give up this noble pursuit of human excellence.

The World Around me as I see it....

Ever had that feeling that something is not quite right? That life, as you know it, is not what it seems? Well, I do. I always have the feeling that everything around me is not real. Now this could be the product of a hyperactive imagination and reading too many science fiction novels, but still, sometimes I have to snap back to reality and remember that everything IS exactly as it seems. That there's no such thing as magic, that leprechauns and fairies do not exist, that attempting to jump from buildings Matrix movie style will only get you a lot of broken bones or worse, dead. Very disappointing to say the least, and I blame the movie and writing industries for making me dissatisfied with my world. Damn you, ya creative fools, ya spoiled me rotten!

Oh wait, I haven't told you the worst of it. Some days, when my mind is at its craziest, I feel as if the whole world is just one big stage play or TV show with me being the centre showpiece (yeah like that Jim Carrey movie). All the people around are just acting their parts, and gauging my reactions to each and everything that happens in my life. Obviously this kind of wild dreaming helps make my world more interesting, making my mind look like a bored kid trying to amuse himself. If only there were actually some point to wishful thinking eh? ;)

At this stage you are probably thinking, this guy belongs in a mental institution. But wait. Being an atheist, I have embraced the fact that this world was created by 'chaos', and there is no such thing as intelligent design. Absence of a GOD means no magic, no miracles, no voodoo whatsoever. But if you consider the fact that there are perhaps hundreds of religions in this world, followed by millions of people, it makes you wonder whether even one of them could have a minuscule of truth to them. In that case, does that mean that there is such a thing as magic? If so, sign me up buster!

Science makes a living out of shattering all our myths. Long ago people thought that fire was some kind of magic and starting worshipping it, giving birth to the Fire god. Well we kissed that guy goodbye when we discovered that all you need is oxygen, and you can pretty much burn anything! One by one everything that man could not understand or could not comprehend, all he had to do was put science to work and voila! The answer would magically appear. Not to of course downplay the years and years of painstaking research that goes into such discoveries, but science has never yet failed to answer the inspired and determined researcher.

So does that mean there is no magic?? Hold your horses! Isn't the gurgling laughter of an infant magic to his mother's ears? Doesn't the sun rising over the horizon take your breath away, and put all man made works of art to shame? Why does the sight of a kitten licking its paws, or a dog jumping in pure delight on seeing its master make you smile? The idea of there actually being some impossibly talented artist having sat down one day and created this masterpiece called earth, all these fantastically varied species of living creatures and natural wonders is far easier to embrace than some impossibly incredible succession of chaotic events bringing about such beauty. Also the comfort of having someone to thank when something good happens to us, and having the solace of never being truly alone even when you have lost everything since you have GOD, makes for a compelling argument for the existence of some magical power that created our world and drives it even today.

So what is a proof required to believe something, yet totally amazed by the world around me, belonging in a loony bin atheist like me supposed to do?? My practical friend said to me, 'Dude, u have more important matters to attend to!'. So once again I am forced to come back to the real world (read boring), get a life and get busy. Sucks, but hey, at the least, I am alive, I love the world around me and I am ready to wait for the day when my questions are answered. Or so I want you to think. Umm....

Dawgs... a gift from god...

After reading a post on a website, I have been inspired enough to write a blog post about one of my favourite things, DOGS! I am not gonna tell you what awesome pets dogs are; there's enough on the net about that already and frankly speaking some of the stuff is plain weird. All those sites dedicated to cats and dogs are just a bit too much, though i do love the LOLcats.... they are hilarious! Proof lies here: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Anyways, back from when I was barely three or four years old, I can remember there being dogs at my grandfather's house. The one i can recollect was a pomeranian named Laika. That was when I discovered what a cool friend a dog is. You can get bored of your dog, but it never gets bored of you. Yeah a dog can have people it likes more than you, but when your alone with it, it aint gonna say a word about anybody but you! Oh wait I am doing what I said I wouldn't, telling you how awesome dogs are. Sorry about that. Moving on, we got our first dog back in like '92 I think (by we I mean my parents, my sister and me). Her name was.... wait for it.... (drumroll.... )... Nicy! Yeah we didn't exactly get very creative with the naming part but the thing is, that name fit her like a glove.

She was a pure breed pomeranian and had some very illustrious pure breed parents too, if my memory serves me right. The reason the name was apt for her was because, no prizes for guessing, she was quite the sweet little soul. Some people find poms a bit unnerving because they are known to have short tempers. But this dog wouldn't harm a fly if its life depended on it. Me and my sister were as naughty and evil as any other siblings of our age, and though i am not proud of it, we went to extreme lengths to pester our dog. But that sweet thing, she took it all with barely a growl.

Even when she would meet strangers, she would maybe give a bark or two and then cozy up to them like she had known them all her life. Though this didn't make her of much use to us as a guard dog, this soon made her very popular among visitors to our place. She didn't know any fancy tricks, wasn't very disciplined and had barely any training at all. But yet she stole everyone's heart the first time she met them. Needless to say, we grew very very fond of her and loved her fiercely. She did some things she probably wasn't very proud of (like getting knocked up by street dogs, running away from home only to come back looking like she had been cleaning the gutters) and so did we (hitting her when we were in a bad mood, being lazy to take her for walks) but overall, she endeared herself to us so much that when she finally passed away in 2001, it came as a huge blow to all of us. So much so, that my mother, who had loved Nicy like a member of our family (I always wondered how she had so much love left over after giving us so much), decided never to keep a dog at home again. We were kids, we moved on, but mom had developed quite a bond, and I think she probably still misses Nicy in her own motherly way.

One of the fondest memories I have of Nicy is the way she would chase her own tail. All we had to do was touch her tail and she would spend the next five minutes chasing it around. She left an indelible mark on my character, in that she started my love affair with dogs, made me love animals and I am a true believer of the saying that if you haven't loved an animal (preferably a dog), then you haven't loved at all. For its my belief that dogs truly understand that impossible facet of love us humans find so difficult to embrace, of giving without expecting. I could go on for pages about my dog, but I would like to end this blog by saying that I hope that one day you experience that wonderful man-dog relationship too, for it can only make you a better person. Woof woof! :)

P.S. The article that inspired this love letter to dogs:

http://1000awesomethings.com/2010/04/13/528-when-your-pet-notices-youre-in-a-bad-mood-and-comes-to-see-you/

A Blog named Desire

The mind can never understand what the heart wants. The heart can never accept what the mind wants.The root of the whole problem obviously lies in wanting something, namely, 'desire'. It is the cause and effect of all of one's problems. The only possible ways a person can deal with desire is one, he can ignore all his desires, and choose an ascetic life dedicated to finding a deeper meaning. This approach is suicidal, since it itself is motivated by the desire to achieve meaning in life. The second approach is what most people practice today, i.e trying to achieve the right balance, making the right choices of which desire to pursue and which to dismiss as the unworthy ones. Man has been trying this approach for so long with barely any success that it can be dismissed as a failed experiment. Every culture, religion, tribe, group, society, cult, belief system that has flashed across the annals of history is a conspicuous pointer to the utter failure of this approach. Each one of them had their own way of explaining the world around them and providing the path to happiness and true satisfaction, but the fact that there are so many by itself proves that there will never be one truth that can satisfy each and every human being.

Even science, which makes a commendable career out of pulling the proverbial rabbit out of the hat and blasting all of man's myths to pieces, draws a blank when it comes to the big eternal question, "Why am I here?". The last approach to dealing with desire is simple but unacceptable to most of mankind, which is simply to take what one craves. A small section of the world follows this routine, by getting what they desire by 'hook or crook'. Even here, the impossibility of getting everything one wants is such a big stumbling block that at the end of the day, even these guys must helplessly join the fellows on the second path.

Then what is, the way to deal with wanting so much in life? The pursuit of desires is just the pursuit of happiness, disguised and undiscovered. All we want is to be happy. When a person we love does something which we don't consider to be in their best interests, some of us just shrug and say, "If you're happy, I'm happy". Note how it ends with our happiness. The pursuit of happiness is the only real, absolute truth of life. The only question we need to answer is, what is happiness? Why does man feel this eternal need to be happy? This clearly seperates us from all other species on this planet, since all our actions are motivated 'only' by this reasoning. The day we stop wanting to be happy, is the day mankind will have truly ceased to exist. For either we will have found the true secret of life and thus moved up in our own eyes, or we will have given up happiness as a wild goose chase and decided to pull the plug on the entire species. I only wish I could be there when that dilemma is solved.

I aint no type u know!

I aint no type U know
Aint got any traits to show
Have my own quirky style
Not gonna walk in file

I wont follow the herd
nor stick to the curb
Wud rather be dead
than stick labels on my head


Coz I Aint gonna dance
to the same old tunes
I got my own rhythm
So hear me groove ya fools!


Types are a curse
cant think of nothing worse
Gud for a laugh
but boy can they hurt!

All the snowflakes
look darn near the same
A wise man it takes
to know their names
See them truly
understand their game


Types make no sense
each one is a pearl
See past the pretense
give em' a twirl
See the curtains part
to a whole new world

Cricket, the only religion I believe in

Cricket.... at first glance the word itself tells you nothing. Some knowledgeable chap, in complete ignorance of cricket ofcourse, might think this blog post has something to do with a certain insect. It does not, not even remotely. To be frank, cricket ain't such a big deal in our 6 billion strong, two World wars surviving, crazily diverse human race. Though the International Cricket Council does have 104 member countries, only a fool would tout that statistic to boast the popularity of cricket. Heck, cricket was never even a part of the Olympics, the biggest celebration of human athleticism since time immemorial and is only likely to be introduced from 2020. All in all, for most people on this planet, cricket is just one more game played by some people in a few colonies of the British Empire.

True, but this post is not about bashing cricket's popularity. On the contrary, I wish to address the seemingly little knowledge people have of the beauty of this game. Cricket is and will always be a never ending pursuit of the balance between sheer athleticism and intellect. The myriad rules of cricket might boggle a newcomer, but once you get past the initial hiccups, the possibilities for innovation, awe-inspiring tactical strategies and plain old cunning can make anyone gasp in wonder. Herein also lies one of the biggest strengths of cricket. This game doesnt ignore you if you aren't looking for mental stimulation. The contest between bat and ball, the battle between technique and raw animal power, and the conquest of new records by itself is sufficient to make anyone thirst for more. To put it simply, there's a lot more to cricket than what appears above the surface.

Like many other people in India, cricket is a way of life for me. Following the national team's progress (by itself a tedious affair) comes as naturally to me as perhaps, following the stock market comes to some people. Cricket in India, is by all means, a religion. I, like many others got indoctrinated into this great game at a very young age. By the time I was smart enough to realize it, I was hooked. Celebrating the successes of the national team wildly and of course, cursing them when they fail, comes naturally to me. Truth be told, I wouldn't want it any other way. The more you stay with this game, the more you are forced to marvel at how little we truly grasp the beauty of this game. One of the legends of this game, and probably the best cricketer ever, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (how can i write a post about cricket without mentioning SRT, the God of Cricket), is living proof that if you give your life to this game, it will award you richly and take you places few men have gone before. Some people utter that cricket is a game of luck and that the newest format of cricket, Twenty20 cricket, is even more so. My answer to this is a simple quote by Thomas Jefferson,

“I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”

The euphoria that a cricket fan experiences, standing in a stadium filled to capacity, with wild cheering fans screaming themselves hoarse, can only rivaled by few other experiences that life has to offer. Finally, whether for the joy of watching the unceasing struggle between the batsman and the bowler, or for exploring the infinite intricacies that this game has to offer, even the most skeptical newcomer would surely be hard pressed to pronounce Cricket anything, but one of the finest inventions of mankind. Here's to Cricket.

Sunny Boy!

Which is more beautiful, blue blue skies and a big yellow sun shining down and making everything in its wake brighter, or lots of clouds and the sun playing peekaboo from behind them, giving occasional flashes of warmth to us earthly denizens?? It all boils down to one simple truth - Life is relative. For a sun starved European, every glimpse of the sun is like a kiss from a hot girl... awesome while it lasts! But for a native of the glorious continent called Asia, used to the hot sun streaming down on him 10 out of 12 months in the year, baking him to a light nutmeg brown, these glimpses are like 3rd degree torture. They remind him of a land where summers are so hot you could fry a omelet on any car left in the sun for too long. Or where winter means a warm 15 degrees low, a cool breeze and maybe a shiver or two at night. Some poet once said that the Sun loves the earth so much it gives and gives without reason or care as to whether earth will ever return the favor. But honestly, even the Sun seems to be relative doesnt it?? By the time summer comes to an end, some parts of the earth have been baked into a crisp toast gasping for some moisture to soothe their parched souls, while others are just left wishing the summer would last forever and not leave the dreaded winter in its wake. Whats up with that Mr Oh so Romantic Sun??? I think I'm gonna call this my extension to Einstein's Relativity Theory, and I know for a fact that the niceness of the comments on this blog are going to depend on the relation of the commenter to me. Case in point. ;)

My Eulogy to Cricket

Oh Cricket Oh Cricket
arent u so wicked
u can make our hearts soar
and bring us to our knees
make the crowds roar
or weep if u please

U have many fans
both the masses and the gentle
all of 'em in a trance
some admirers some just plain mental!

Learning your nuances is
every cricketer's joy
Be it perfecting the stances
or spinning the ball like a toy

Played by one and all
On the city's tar paved streets
or the dust bowls of the plains
From raggedly clothed lads
to the upper class chaps

For some ur just a pastime
played on a lazy summer day
for others you are the ticket
to glory, riches and fame

There have been many
who have graced this game
taken it to another level
and immortalized their names

But like a pearl in the ocean
like a diamond in the rough
Came along a man called Sachin
a little short, but nail like tough

He slew them all the bowlers
of every name and land
took each one to the cleaners
with barely a grimace at all.

Such then is the story
of the gentleman's game
The true test of a man
that brings his character to the fore
coz once you have played cricket
you are never again the same

Life's lessons

Everytime I have faced a harsh time in my life.... I have surfaced without any scars.... was what I used to think. Now i realize that every breathing moment we have on this earth will have some consequence on our lives later. Its sunny outside while I write this and I realize just the simple act of the Sun coming out has made my day that much brighter. Now when I go back to my studies after writing this I have a smile on my face and am even more determined to put my best foot forward in whatever i do. How u ask?? Well how can one enjoy the simple joys of life, the ones that matter the most if one has not seen the other side of the coin? When tomorrow I have achieved my dreams and made something out of myself, I can gladly look back to many such days when I almost gave up but for something small like this making me reboot and start afresh. That day I will look at the Sun and thank it for all that it has given me. In a similar vein, when something upsets me, it arms me for future troubles and makes sure I am armed and ready for battle the next time some trouble comes knocking on my door. When you lose a battle, dont lose the lesson too.....